Guild Wars 2: huge year of updates kicks off January 26

Guild Wars 2 gets its first major update of the year shortly, and there's a ton of stuff on the cards beyond that.

Guild Wars 2 developer ArenaNet has big plans for 2016. The MMO kicks off a busy first quarter with the Winter 2016 update, which drops on January 26.

This weighty content update includes the ability to use gliders in any open-world map or city in Central Tyria, an improved Shatterer battle, quality of life improvements to Fractals of the Mist, changes to event participation systems, squad markers and lieutenant promotions in the Enhanced Squad UI, new Mist Champion Tybalt Leftpaw, the Eldvin Monastery Brew of the Month Club, new world and raid boss guild decorations, new control and key binding options and a major balance update.

World vs World combat will also be getting some love, with adjustments to player kill scoring, rallying, reviving and objective upgrade locations.

That's just the first major update; ArenaNet already has further plans. There's a Lunar New Year Event also kicking off on January 26, an undated new raid wing (Salvation Pass), the launch of a new PvP League season on February 23 and the ESL Guild Wars 2 Pro League Season One Finals + Relegation Tournament through January and February.

Looking past the first quarter, ArenaNet expects to continue the MMO's storyline with Living World Season 3, further updates to Fractals of the Mist and a big update for WvW.

More details can be found on the Guild Wars 2 website.